AC200 Accounting Theory and Practice

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Accounting and Finance. This course is available on the BSc in Management and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Please seek permission from BSc in Accounting and Finance Programme Director.

Students must have completed either

(1) Elements of Accounting and Finance (AC100), or

(2) Elements of Financial Accounting (AC102) and Elements of Management Accounting, Financial Management and Financial Institutions (AC103), or

(3) equivalent.

This is a one-unit course that builds on the foundation laid by the first-year accounting courses. AC200 is also intended to provide students with the conceptual knowledge and technical skills necessary for final-year courses in accounting. The course considers the major theoretical and practical approaches to accounting and consists of two main components: financial accounting and management accounting.

Financial Accounting: The course begins with an evaluation of the regulatory environment in which financial accounting operates. This part of the course focuses on the preparation and analysis of the published financial statements of limited companies operating on their own, or within group structures. The function and content of published financial statements, the issues posed by consolidated accounts, and the analysis of financial statements to evaluate corporate performance will also be examined. A range of specific areas of financial accounting issues will be looked at, for example, reporting of earnings, problems associated with the treatment of taxation, valuation of tangible and intangible assets, and provisions.

Management Accounting: The course then explores theoretical concepts, practices, designs and wider issues of cost and management accounting. The characteristics and use of various systems and models, such as cost-driver analysis and activity-based costing, in organisational decision-making at both operating and strategic levels will be introduced and critically evaluated. This part of the course also considers ways in which non-financial information can be used to complement financial accounting information in order to enable a more holistic approach aimed at providing relevant and useful information to management for the purposes of planning, decision-making, and organisational control.

33 hours of seminars in the MT. 30 hours of seminars in the LT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

The course will be delivered by:

10 three-hour seminars in MT (weeks 1-10);
1 three-hour summative assessment session in MT (week 11);
10 three-hour seminars in LT (weeks 1-5, and weeks 7-11 where week 6 is a reading week); and,
1 two-hour revision session in ST (week 1).

There will be no seminars in week 11 of MT but students will be required to participate in a summative assessment this week as scheduled in the timetable.

Students are expected to come to each seminar prepared where the assigned course materials have been read and attempted. There will also be several online quizzes to assess student’s knowledge and progress in the MT on a formative basis for feedback. Feedback on performance and progress will be provided during class, on written homework assignments, and during office hours.

Detailed course programmes and reading lists will be distributed before the first lecture of each term. A range of academic papers, professional reports and news articles will be used in the course.

Exam (60%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.
Presentation (15%) in the MT.
Project (15%) in the LT.
Class participation (10%) in the MT and LT.

Class participation will be assessed based on students’ engagement with course activities, including for example in-class discussions and class assignments.